Page 36 of His to Take

“It’s not her fault. It’s mine. Take me. Don’t punish her for this,” a male voice pleaded.

“She is pregnant. That is a criminal offense,” another voice replied, but there was a distinct computerized tone to it that made it clear that the speaker wasn’t entirely human. An android maybe? I wasn’t certain.

There was a muffled scream and a single loud gunshot. An uncomfortable feeling blossomed in the pit of my belly, and I wished they would turn it off. I didn’t want to hear anymore.

“Please don’t,” she begged.

Another gunshot echoed in the room, and I wanted nothing more than to cover my ears.

Neither man nor woman spoke again.

The computerized voice continued talking about laws and regulations, playing for several seconds too many until someone mercifully shut it off. I sighed in relief, but still the sounds echoed in my head long after it was over.

“This is the third instance this month,” the female agent said.

“We do not have the strength to intervene right now. They would crush us,” a senior male agent countered.

She gritted her teeth.

“We need more information: names, locations, methods. We can’t decide on a course of action blind. Get me that and then we can do something,” he pushed.

“I’ll get you more information,” she replied immediately, a hard edge to her tone. With a polite nod, she closed the door and left the conference room. I shifted in my seat, not knowing what to do.

“Who is ‘they’?” I asked hesitantly.

The male agent had turned to me. He looked almost surprised that I had spoken.

“New Englandia,” he answered.

Since then, the tension between the two city states had only risen. Pacifica had grown in power at a frightful pace. Now, we weren’t too far behind New Englandia, which was easily the most powerful city state in the world.

I watched Naomi climb into the car as I held the door open for her. The heart-wrenching thought of her being taken captive and killed because of what we’d done together, what I’d done to her, flashed before my eyes and I gripped the door so hard my fingers ached.

I would never allow it. If they touched her, I’d kill them myself.

My feelings for her, my attraction to her, had escalated surprisingly fast; I was captivated. As much as I wanted to claim her and make her mine, I couldn’t put her at risk like that. Here, she was renowned for her skills, her knowledge of the old worldunparalleled. She had a life in this place and as much as I didn’t approve of it, she was happy.

I wouldn’t be the one to destroy that. I couldn’t do that to her.

I climbed into the car beside her. I could feel the driver’s eyes on us, so I did my best to keep my distance from her. I wasn’t sure if she knew the danger she would be in if there was even an ounce of suspicion that we had been together.

Sometimes, it was better to keep silent than to tell the truth. Telling her about the conduct of the controlling class of New Englandia would just frighten her and probably put her more at risk than ever. Worse, she may not even believe me.

This was one of those times to be silent.

I knew she was thinking about the things I’d said to her. Even now, her cheeks were still slightly flushed, and her pupils remained dilated. She caught my gaze and smiled softly in my direction.

“Today will be the first time ever that I’m leaving home,” she mused, her expression quickly transforming into eager excitement.

“It’s going to be an experience, that’s for certain,” I grinned. The tension between us felt lighter. She turned her head as the car pulled away from the curb and I breathed a sigh of relief. I would have to be more careful from now on. I’d need to resist temptation for her sake.

I prayed for the strength to do that.

“I can’t wait,” she added.

An hour later, the car drove through a set of heavily guarded gates onto the grounds of the militarized airport. There was a long runway and a freight plane belonging to Pacifica poised at the head of it waiting for us. The driver pulled onto the tarmac, driving as close to the airplane as possible. Naomi looked at the plane with a bit of a shocked expression for the briefest moment before she covered it up with muted interest.

“I didn’t know they still had planes like this. I’ve only seen them in pictures in old books,” she whispered low enough so that only I could hear.

---